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Friday, 29 June 2012

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Q: Birthday Wishes -- Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake...who is it and what book are they from?

A: I'm not sure where to start, I had so many ideas on this one :-) I think I'll go with Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books because he always seems an intreaging character and it would be interesting to meet him. Now if I was going to go for "wow look at him" I would have a nice long list think Bones, Rhange or Barrons etc!

Sunday, 24 June 2012

Stacking The Shelves is a brand new meme for us all to showcase our book haul for the week. The lovely Tynga at Tyngas Reviews.Showcase Sunday is another fantastic new meme where we can showcase our books, this is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea

I can't choose which of these memes to participate in so I'm going to take part in both!!

Rosemary and Rue (October Day, #1) by Seanan McGuireOctober "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

Friday, 22 June 2012

What is Feature & follow?Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Q: If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad?

A: That's actually a really hard question! There are very few books which I've ever found THAT bad and so many I'd love to read again for the first time. It would be great to read the whole Harry Potter series from the beginning and see how it develops again. I'd also like to be able to do the same with the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

I'd like to welcome Kim Nathan who is the author of Dreaming Montana for an interview on her book tour presented by the fantastic Innovative Online Book Tours.

I'd like to tell you about Dreaming Montana then introduce Kim before we dive into the interview!

About Dreaming MontanaIn a single day, Cara
Gallagher experiences an erotic dream about a man she doesn’t know and has a
premonition of her identical twin—at the exact moment her sister dies in a car
accident. To escape her grief and a
loveless marriage, Cara accepts a temporary job reassignment in Seattle, where
she continues to have sensuous dreams of the unknown man. There she encounters
an angel who claims to be sent by her dead sister to help her find the man in
her dreams. Meanwhile, photographer Jay Amiens sees angel wings on his film and
has recurring intimate dreams about a woman he doesn’t know—but would love to
meet in person. Set in 1993, Dreaming Montana invokes the spirit of
Seattle at the height of the grunge era, with the city as the backdrop for Cara
and Jay to potentially cross paths.

Lets meet Kim

Kim Nathan is an American author of
historical and contemporary romance fiction. Her first novel was Sterling
Redmond, a historical
romance. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, she relocated to Seattle,
Washington in 1994, where she lives with her husband and cats.

The Interview:Why did you decide to become a writer?I've wanted to be a writer since I was twelve. I've always felt it was my calling. I rejected it for too many years to work other jobs, but it never stopped calling to me.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Characters usually show up and demand attention. They keep showing me scenes until finally I am compelled to start jotting down notes, essentially giving them a voice. That's how it begins for me.Can you talk us through the process you go through when you write a book.

I keep spiral notebooks and jot my notes down when something comes to me. In the beginning stages, it's all just random notes and impressions, words, feelings, and odd bits that I eventually string together when I write the chapter. After I get through the first draft of a chapter, I go back over it many times, but then I let it bake for a while. My eyes are fresher on it the next day. Some days are writing days; some days are editing days. Some days, especially early on, are spent just sitting around and thinking.

If you were not a writer what would you be?

I was a business analyst in my past corporate career. What is the best thing about being a writer?

Connecting with the creative force. It's very fulfilling work.

And the worst?

Writing is a solitary profession. it's a good idea to get out and mingle with real people once and awhile to stay mentally healthy.

Did you have a favourite author as a child?

Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved those Little House books!

What do you do in your free time?

I love to take walks. I go to a Nia (dance/movement) class three times a week. It helps to keep me grounded in my body. I tend to over-think everything. I enjoy having a fine dining experience with my husband. We love to travel when we can.

You can visit one place in the world right now, where and why?

Baltimore, so that I could see my parents.

Can you give us an odd fact about yourself

I'm an extroverted introvert.

Anything you would like to add?

Many thanks to the readers. I couldn't do it without them. They complete what I start.

A few quickfire questions:

Coffee or Tea? Coffee (I live in Seattle, the coffee capital of the world!)

Summer or winter? Summer, as long as it isn't too hot

Physical book or ebook? Mostly physical books but I am moving in the ebook direction

Wild night out or cosy night in? Cosy night in (I've already used up my quota of wild nights)

Thank you to Kim for taking the time to chat to us today! To find out more about Andrea and her books you can find her around the web here:

Monday, 18 June 2012

In my erotic
novella, my heroine is kidnapped by the hero and taken to his undersea lair.
When he tells her this, she thinks she’s in the middle of a bad dream or a
major mind-fuck. It takes her a while before she realizes she’s not having a
nightmare but living one.

I thought it
might be fun to check the dream dictionary at Dream Moods (http://dreammoods.com) to see what the images
she is seeing could mean.

According
to Dreammoods.com, dreaming about the ocean “...is indicative of spiritual
refreshment, tranquility and renewal.” That makes sense. Kate’s life is about
to change and renew, for the better.

She is under the sea: “To dream that you are lost
at sea suggests that you are drifting around in life without any direction. You
are feeling overwhelmed by emotions.” She feels her life has no direction other
than her career. And now that she’s met the hero, she is confused and
overwhelmed with her emotions and feelings toward him.

My hero is half sea monster, with squid-like arms:
“To see a squid in your dream suggests that you are feeling subconsciously
threatened.” Uh, yeah, she’s feeling threatened. He pulled her off a cruise
ship. “Your judgment may also be clouded.” Ya think? She’s starting to believe
he is telling the truth. “Perhaps you are not seeing things too clearly at the
moment.” It’s dark under the sea. No lights. She literally can’t see at all.

Weird!

A recurring dream I have is that I’ve forgotten my
locker combination in high school (which was many, many years ago FYI). So I
wait in a long line at the office to get my combination from them, but by the
time I get back to my locker, I’ve forgotten it again.

So, according to Dream Moods, what could this mean?

Dreaming about school could mean “signifies
feelings of inadequacy and childhood insecurities that have never been
resolved. It may relate to anxieties about your performance and abilities.” I’m
a writer. Enough said.

“To dream that you cannot open a locker or that
your forgot the combination suggests that you are unsure of where you stand in
a particular situation. You feel you have lost some aspect of yourself. In
other words, you are on shaky ground.” This I’m not sure of. I’ll have to think
about if this applies to my life next time I have this dream.

What about your dreams? Check out the dream
dictionary at Dream Moods, and I’d love to hear about it.

About
Becca:

Becca Simone was just eleven years old when she read her
first romance novel. It was about the same time that she realized making up
stories was way more exciting than reality. Thus, an author was born. Becca
lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two kids and a menagerie of
pets.

Under the light of a full moon and lurking in the restless
waves of the deep blue sea, someone or something watches a ship cutting through
the dark waters.

Insurance fraud investigator Kate Hargrove is looking into
the disappearances of women from a cruise line. She soon “disappears” herself
when pulled undersea by a giant sea creature. Now, this beauty is trapped
beneath the sea with a desperate beast.

100 years ago, Thaddeus Ryker was cursed and banished to the
ocean depths. He has only three more days to find someone to love him in his
monstrous half man/half sea creature state or he’ll spend eternity as a monster
of the sea.

When her terror subsides, Kate realizes she’s both attracted
to and repulsed by Thaddeus. As she gets to know him, she discovers a sexy,
haunted man. Can she learn to love him – a monster – in just three days?

ADULT Excerpt:

“Then shut up and kiss me, Thaddeus,” she muttered.

He lifted his head. “You modern women are so demanding,” he
said, before clamping his mouth onto hers. This time, he was the one in
control, his tongue demanding and thorough. “Heaven on earth, you taste
amazing,” he said, coming up for air.

“And this isn’t my tastiest body part,” she whispered,
feeling incredibly wanton and frisky, so unlike how she usually was with men.
This whole situation was so surreal.

His chuckle vibrated behind her ear. “What is your
tastiest part?”

She giggled and dropped her head back, allowing him better
access to the sensitive skin of her neck. “You’ll know when you find it.” God,
this was fun.

His tongue dipped into the shell of her ear. He blew on her
softly. “Mmm, you taste pretty good right here,” he murmured. He bent her
backward over his strong forearms, and kissed a path down to her breasts. He
met her eyes, grinned, and then his mouth closed over a nipple, drawing it into
his hot mouth. Every suck pulled deep in her pussy. If she didn’t know better,
she’d think he was kissing her clit at the same time as the pleasure radiated
between her legs.

Sunday, 17 June 2012

Stacking The Shelves is a brand new meme for us all to showcase our book haul for the week. The lovely Tynga at Tyngas Reviews.Showcase Sunday is another fantastic new meme where we can showcase our books, this is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea

I can't choose which of these memes to participate in so I'm going to take part in both!!I have received some books for review this week which is fantastic :-)

This week I've been to the library and got a total of one book, yes just one! Well, I'm busy setting up a new business at the moment!

Claire Danvers has her share of challenges---like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roommate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend named Shane, whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup: cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything.

Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and---surprise!---Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find out why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out---and everybody's hungry for blood

Friday, 15 June 2012

What is Feature & follow?Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Q: Happy Father's Day! Who is your favorite dad character in a book and why?

A: My absolute favourite has to be Mr Weasley from the Harry Potter books. I mean can you imagine if your Dad was like that!!! I loved how he knew his own path and that of his family, he knew when it was right for them to "go into battle" but his best feature is his complete love for his family which never ceased, no matter what happened :-)

This week things are a little different as we each choose a blogger to feature on out blogs and there are various giveaways. (Please excuse anything disorganised or out of place, I'm mid way through my blog make over and at that awkward stage!!)

You will find two Linky's this week. One is all the blogs who are taking part in the give away hop (see below) the other is everyone taking part in the #ff100 hop.

What is Feature & follow?

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

I'm featuring Shera because I really enjoy reading her blog and also because she is my co moderator in the Paranormal Addicts & Newbies ~ Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy group on Goodreads :-)Shera's about tells us everything we need to know to see it's well worth a visit to her blog!!"This is a haven for readers who want to dive into fantasy and forget reality. Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal YA, ect. Get reviews and news! With luck you'll find way too many titles you're missing out on."

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Has blogging opened up opportunities for you beyond getting free, advance copies of new books? Has it helped you get offers to write or review elsewhere (maybe even for pay)? Have you gotten invites to special events or places you might not have been to otherwise? Today, we'd like you to talk about those opportunities in you own posts.

My blog has brought me into contact with so many wonderful people who share my passion for books who I would never have got to know otherwise. I have not really got invites to any events or anything like that yet. I think it may be partly to do with me being in the UK, there are so many fewer book bloggers (and bloggers in general) here. (I'm hoping to help change that with a new venture, stay tuned!!)

I'd love to be able to use my blog as a platform to go on to write, this is very much "on my list" of things to do! I have got the opportunity to start helping people to design their blogs. Unfortunately it means I haven't had time o update my own properly yet!!

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

I'd like to welcome Andrea Heltsley who is the author of Disolve for an interview on her book tour presented by the fantastic Innovative Online Book Tours.

I'd like to tell you about Disolve then introduce Andrea before we dive into the interview!

About Disolve

Everything seemed to be going right for Cora. She had a wonderful fiance, a
great best friend and a fulfilling life. One day, a tragic event causes that
life to crumble around her. She turns to her best friend in her time of need.
They embark on a search for answers, delving deeper into a web of magic and
destruction. The closer they get to the truth, the more questions they have. To
Cora, magic was the stuff of fairy tales. Immersed into a very different kind
of world, the real storm was just beginning to take hold.

“It felt like I was nowhere yet everywhere all at once. I was invisible and
completely panicked. The millions of pieces I had dissolved to drift on the
breeze and away from my nightmares. It was kind of like floating weightless in
a pool, perfectly relaxing. The warm breeze from the window embraced and
soothed me. I let the air current carry me as far as it could through the
summer city.”
“Defeated, I closed my eyes and took a few calming breaths trying to relax
myself. I pictured the dandelion in the park today and took a deep breath as to
blow the fluffy seeds in all directions. I pretended I was light and fluffy and
started to feel a tingling in my body. I began to feel as light as the
dandelion seeds and soon I felt like mist floating. This time, I tried to keep
myself in the room, swirling in a humid block.”

Let's meet Andrea

I am a biology nerd who loves reading just
about anything paranormal and some chick lit. I enjoy sunshine and my two
Italian greyhounds with my husband. I
always write to music, it helps the creative process. Dissolve is my first novel. I have been
writing ever since I was in grade school and have finally decided to make a
career out of it. More books to come summer 2012 and 2013.

The Interview:

Why did you decide to become a writer?I couldn't stop writing since grade school.

Where do you get your inspiration from?Glimpses. I glimpse a magazine article, a book paragraph, a random photo and something just sparks.

Can you talk us through the process you go through when you write a book?I start with a seed of an idea, then it evolves onto paper. I have a ritual when writing. I light a fruity smelling candle and load up my IPod. Then I break out the computer and see what comes next.

If you were not a writer what would you be? I was a scientist, but writing is more fun.

What is the best thing about being a writer? I love the freedom. I can write whenever and wherever I feel like it. I can write as much or as little as I want.

And the worst?I never step away from the job.

Did you have a favourite author as a child?Christopher Pike was my favorite writer in high school and I just knew that I wanted to be in a similar genre.

What do you do in your free time?I am usually glued to my computer or Kindle, but my hubby breaks me away for family time once in a while to watch movies and go shopping.

You can visit one place in the world right now, where and why?A tropical island alone. I want to write a whole novel in two weeks without distraction.

Can you give us an odd fact about yourself?I hate germs, but love my two Italian Greyhounds...go figure. I am also known to be pretty silly.

Anything you would like to add?I have an incredibly supportive family and am thankful they have stood by while I worked on my dream. Also, I am a huge music fanatic and listen to the wackiest things.

A few quickfire questions:

Coffee or Tea? Coffee of course. Caffeine makes the world better.

Summer or winter? I have to have the warmth!

Physical book or ebook? Gotta love the digital age:)

Wild night out or cosie night in? Definitely a cosie night in with my husband and two dogs.

Thank you to Andrea for taking the time to chat to us today! To find out more about Andrea and her books you can find her around the web here:

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Welcome to the second day of Armchair BEA 2012! Today is a chance for us to highlight our favourite books of 2012 so far. I'm sure that like many others I found this quite hard to do! I've read lots of great books, but I've managed to pick some out :-)

Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1) by Nalini SinghReally enjoyed this book, I love her take on Angels, very refreshing. I could not put this down :-) Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona AndrewsI'd heard a lot about this series but for some reason never read it, I'm really wondering why I waited so long now!

Night Life (Nocturne City #1) by Caitlin I'm currently reading this and if I tell you it's interrupting me getting a good nights sleep you know I like it!!

Slave to Senation (Psy-Changelling #1) by Nalini SinghWow, what can I say, I really loved this book. I can not wait to get my hands on the rest of this series!!!!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"While her family was affectionate in a spartan way, they wanted to toughen her up. Only one of her aunts, Daniela the Ice Maiden, seemed to understand her yearning, becuase she herself couldn't touch or have her freezing skin touched without extreme pain"A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2) by Kresley Cole. P.86

Monday, 4 June 2012

Welcome to the first day of Armchair BEA 2012!! The lovely ladies over at Armchair BEA have organised this event for those of us who are unable to make it to the physical BEA (Book Expo America). I'm in the UK so it gives me an excellent opportunity to connect with lots of wonderful bloggers, authors and publishing world people!

Today is day 1 so it's time for introductions! We have been asked to answer at least 5 of the 10 interview questions posed. Here are mine :-)

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

My name is Jenny and I'm from the UK. I'm a 30something reader and blogger. I've been book blogging for nearly two years (but had a about 10 months where I only posted a very little). I started blogging because I was already reviewing books on Amazon & Goodreads which led me on to book blogs, I loved the community and got my own started!

What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?I'm currently reading Night Life by Caitlin Kitteridge. My favourite book so far this year is a really hard question as I have several but the leader I think is Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.I run my own businesses, yes two. I have a small accountancy practice and also design, maintain and run blogs for small businesses.

Where do you see your blog in five years?I'd love to see it grown with me wherever that might take me!! (In other words I have no idea!!)

If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?Anita Blake (Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K Hamilton) because I'd like to ask her which of her men she really likes best and how things got to where they are.

What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

The best thing has to be getting to know other bloggers as well as authors. I enjoy how it brings us readers together :-) I'd like to see more interaction between the larger publishers and the book blogging community.

Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

I don't think my tastes have changed but the way I describe them and try to categorise them so readers (and me) can find reviews on my site :-)

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Stacking The Shelves is a brand new meme for us all to showcase our book haul for the week. The lovely Tynga at Tyngas Reviews.Showcase Sunday is another fantastic new meme where we can showcase our books, this is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea

I can't choose which of these memes to participate in so I'm going to take part in both!!

Friday, 1 June 2012

What is Feature & follow?Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Read

Authors & publishers

Authors, publishers & publicists, if you would like me to review your book please visit my Review policy for details. I mainly read paranormal romance & urban fantasy (including YA) but will consider related genres too. I would also be interested to hear from you if you would like me to host a contest, guest post or author interview.